Well I finallyhave my bees home. I can't quit watching them. :D
This was a 4 frame nuc installed into a deep. I put 3 boardman feeders inside on top of the frames and put another deep around them and covered them up.
Even though it has been cloudy and raining a little every day, they are out and about and I noticed today that some are bringing in a bright yellow pollen. I took a peek today at the feeders inside and they are all down about an inch and a half so I think they will be just fine. Cold nights here right now and we're expecting some heavy stuff tomorrow.
My top deep was kind of warped when I put it together, so it sits kind of wobbly on top of the other one. I put a rock on top of the hive so it wouldn't wobble all the time. This leaves about a 1/8 inch gap at the back of the hive between the deeps. Should I put some duct tape on this or just leave it?
Nothing seems to be going in and out of it.
The bees will seal it with propolis, unless they can sqeeze through. They'd need at least 3/16" to squeeze through.
I think it's just a little too small for them. .
Thanks Michael
I have a pollen collector and the little openings for bees are 1/8 inch tall and tapers from 1/8 to 3/16 inch wide. I have a plastic queen excluder with 1/8 inch wide openings.
Oh and I thought I had closed a hive up once. There was a slit I swear was 1/16 (Yes one sixteenth) wide, and the girls were squeezing through it.
Are you sure the bees you saw wern't just bees from other colonies trying to invade yours?
That's what I thought at first, then I found and watched where they were getting out.
>Oh and I thought I had closed a hive up once. There was a slit I swear was 1/16 (Yes one sixteenth) wide, and the girls were squeezing through it.
They can get through #6 hardware cloth (1/6th of an inch) but not #7 hardware cloth (1/7th of an inch) unless some of the wires are slightly bent. They never get through #8 hardware cloth (1/8th of an inch). The queen and the drones can't get through #5 hardware cloth (1/5th of an inch).
Come on... your from Texas for hecks sake. Everything is bigger there.. the tall tales, the gaps in the supers, the bees squeezing out the gap... bahahahahahahah
But that is 1/8 top to bottom and side to side.
If it is 1/8 wide and longer than that I guess they can.
I guess my measuring devices are bigger also :D